Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 27, 2005

Once the council passes a resolution to start charter revision, it triggers a mandatory time frame that includes appointing a commission of five to 15 members within 30 days.

Within that same 30-day period, the council must make recommendations about what revisions it wants the commission to consider and set a due date for a draft report, which must be ready within 16 months.

"All I want to do is get it going," said Mayor
Pat Murphy
. "I don't want to get it bogged down and dragged out."

Mayor Murphy said she has e-mailed all department heads and asked for their recommendations on possible revisions to the charter.

Resident
Sheryl Bean
told the council Monday night she favors keeping a two-year mayoral term to keep a mayor focused on the job.

"Citizens need accountability from elected officials," she said, saying that if the mayor isn't doing a good job a two-year term gives voters a chance to unseat the mayor.

She also urged that questions presented to voters at referendums be clear. She said there should be no more "legal twisting" and questions "where a `no' vote means `yes' and a `yes' vote means `no.' "

Mayor Murphy said Tuesday that the charter is "rife with good and bad."

She said she supports combining the Planning and Zoning commissions, and electing members of the
Inland Wetlands Commission
, who are now appointed.

"[Wetlands] creates law," the mayor said, "and if you create regulations you should be answerable to the public."

Mayor Murphy said she would recommend keeping the Board of Finance as a check and balance on spending.

"We can always use more thinking in government," she remarked."

Mayor Murphy said she can see good and bad in changing the mayor's term to four years, quipping that if Congresswoman
Nancy Johnson
can run every two years, "so can I."

Council members had initially talked about having charter revision on the November 2005 ballot, but the consensus of the council is that there is too much work to be done to meet that deadline.

"It's too important an issue to rush," said member
Frank Wargo
, adding that he did not want to be locked into a November 2005 deadline.

Member
Larry Greenspan
argued for a vote on charter revision separate from a general election to avoid people just "voting the party line."

But fellow member
Pat Sherry
said it's difficult to get people out to vote and a general election is when the majority of people do vote.

As it now stands, the council will vote to start charter revision Feb. 14, have time to set some hearings, and seek recommendations for revision and recommendations from political town committees for members of the revision commission.